


Light and Dark

by occasionalfics



Category: Bucky Barnes - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-17 23:39:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16983996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/occasionalfics/pseuds/occasionalfics
Summary: You and Bucky are binging Harry Potter. One quote, more than any other, sticks out.





	Light and Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted @ occasionalfics.tumblr.com in November 2018

_“We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are.”_

Bucky looks up at the TV over your computer screen and watches the scene play out for a few moments. You watch him watch the movie, watch how still he is, how focused he looks. After an indiscernible amount of time, he picks up the remote and rewinds the DVD, pausing right before Sirius says the line again.

He pauses on a still of Harry’s face, his reaction to his infamous godfather who only wanted to protect his best friends’ child. And he sits there for another few, silent moments, the sorting hat quiz open on your laptop all but forgotten, despite the processor whirring in Bucky’s lap.

You sit up a bit so you’re level with him, push some hair that’s fallen from his low bun behind his ear, smile softly as he shivers. “Hey,” you whisper, “what’s up?”

He breathes heavily, like he’d forgotten to take in air until you spoke. “That’s who we really are,” he repeats, eyes still trained on Harry.

Harry and his scar. Harry and his bright eyes, looking at the person who should’ve raised him, the man who was wrongly accused of murder, the man who was sent to prison for a crime he never committed. An innocent man, tortured and torn inside out with the intent to pick apart his very soul.

A man who made it out of prison alive, aware of who he was, with the single minded goal to make up for the wrongs done against _Harry_ , not himself.

You admit it’s not a one-to-one correlation, but it’s close. Your fingers run gently along the space between his ear and his hairline, and you can’t stop yourself from smiling wider.

“You like that one?” you ask, nodding to the screen.

He nods back, slowly, mulling the quote over and over. You can practically see the gears in his head turning, processing what kind of gift Sirius has given his godson, the Boy Who Lived but was never allowed to know what that would mean for his future.

You know you’re only watching these now because Bucky has never seen them. He’s asked so many questions about Harry Potter because _everyone_ still talks about it. _Everyone_ is a fan, even twenty years after the books were first published. And you were, maybe you still are. Right now, you’re just watching so Bucky can see, so he can have an idea of what the hype is all about.

You’d almost forgotten about this part, where Sirius and Harry talk about how scared Harry is that he’s becoming like Voldemort. Like some outside force decides whether or not Harry is good or evil, a decent person or a vile one. Then Sirius gives him that gift, the gift of choice. _“What matters is the part we choose to act on.”_

Bucky hasn’t been given that choice in a very, very long time.

You tuck the quote away, in a safe place where you keep all the important things you remember about Bucky, and lean forward to kiss his shoulder. He inhales sharply - not exactly a gasp, but not a normal breath either. Something in the middle.

It snaps him back into this moment; he looks at you as you sit up again, and you notice that his eyes are lined with tears. You’re half-tempted to tell him _Hey, it’s okay, it’s just a movie._

But there are millions of people that would beg to differ.


End file.
